A Critical examination of effects of Hungary’s current law on churches on Muslim church-recognized organizations

Abstract

<p> After the fall of the Soviet bloc, the democratic transition in Hungary brought in very liberal legislation on churches. This resulted in the mushrooming of re ligious organizations being recognized as churches. Muslim church-recognized communities also grew in number. From the original one church-recognized organization, we are aware of at least 3 Muslim organizations receiving church status by 2010. The new FIDESZ-led government’s supermajority after the 2010 elections brought in not only a new constitution, but also new legislation on religious organizations that created a much stricter legal environment for religious or ganizations being recognized as churches. Many previously church-recognized organizations lost their status in a newly created multi-tiered system of legal rec ognition. Only two Muslim organizations managed to obtain church recognition in this new system, the Organization of Muslims in Hungary, and the Hungarian Islamic Community. This paper aims to critically analyse the current legislation and its short and mid dle-term effect on the remaining two Muslim church-recognized organizations. The paper will argue, that even though the current legislation is generally not considered as favourable for Muslim churches as the previous one, the current system still puts the two church-recognized organizations into a relatively pow erful situation. As there is little chance for an emerging Muslim organization obtaining the church status these other two organisations have in the current Hungarian political climate, the two organizations that do have this recognition puts the current church-recognized Muslim organizations into a structurally powerful position vis-á-vis other Muslim communities in Hungary.</p>